Loki and the Doctor
by JustAnotherWritersWorld
Summary: Loki was a young prince, a child who could see the darkness closing in. Meeting the Doctor and Rose provided him with some hope, but they were gone all too soon and he was left alone. Years later, a lonelier Doctor with a different face returns and finds a clever little boy,now a damaged, broken Trickster. He is left conflicted at the imprisoned Loki's plea - 'Take me away.'
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet morning in Asgard, and the sun had barely crept over the trees. It lit the palace towers a shining gold, so bright it hurt the eyes – but out here was a world of hushed greens and the rustling breeze. The gardens were filled with flowers of every colour and description, but Loki had always preferred the orchard. Perched in the branches of an oak as ancient as the stars, the young prince was, as ever, engrossed in his reading. Thor had always favoured weapons to the written word, brute strength to books, but at eleven years old the younger son of Odin had a mind of tales and tricks. This morning, he was supposed to be sparring with Thor in the courtyard, but had made his escape before anyone else rose. Hiding out would have its consequences later, but for now, the boy was at peace. He flicked the page softly, the movement so automatic it didn't interrupt the flow of the words.

And the armies of Asgard bore down upon the citadel of ice...

Drawn in as he was by the history of the glorious conquest, Loki didn't hear the echoed whooshing sound which rolled through the silence.

The frost giants were defeated and the casket taken from Jotenheim, though at great cost...

The blue box materialising beneath the trees went unnoticed, the two figures emerging from it wandering out towards Loki's tree. It was only when the younger of the pair, a girl, spoke aloud that he became aware of their presence.

"This isn't Barcelona, Doctor! We're in a forest!"

Loki looked up, instinctively pulling back into the cover of the leaves. A male voice answered, "Well, excuse me for confusing my co-ordinates every now and again! Nine hundred years of travelling time and space will do that to a guy!"

Peering out, the young Asgardian caught a glimpse of the intruders. For intruders they were, he was certain – no servant would be dressed like that, and it wasn't as if the Allfather would have come looking for him. He never did.

"Where are we, anyway?" the young woman asked, impatiently fixing blonde hair. He had never seen someone so extraordinarily dressed, and with such a short skirt.

"Um..." Her partner, a man clad in the most extraordinary leather tunic Loki had ever seen, twirled about and scrutinised their surroundings. He must have glimpsed the distant palace as he cried out, "Looks like Asgard! Barcelona, Bifrost, easily confused...I haven't been hear in centuries..."

Loki was unsure of what to do. He couldn't begin to fathom how to escape – he could attempt magic, but that was risky. He wasn't strong enough to overcome to grown adults...unless he made himself invisible, and got away.

Closing his eyes, the young prince focused. Mother had been teaching him her tricks, and he felt fairly confident he could vanish from view.

Loki felt the familiar sensation tingle across his skin, and knew he had faded into the air, invisible to the naked eye. Silently, he left the book tucked between two branches and began a quiet, sneaking descent. He moved swiftly and confidently, but, unhappily for the boy, he had never been as agile or as strong as Thor. This, combined with the fact that he couldn't see his own hands, caused him to miss his grip and fall, tumbling into the grass with a yelp. The ground was hard, and he simply lay there and moaned for a moment.

Opening his eyes, Loki flicked dark hair from his eyes and sat up painfully, stiff, sore and very, very visible.

The blonde girl looked down at him in surprise, but her friend seemed merely amused.

"Hallo," he said happily, extending his hand. "I'm the Doctor!"


	2. Chapter 2

Loki got up with as much dignity as he could muster, leaves in his hair and limbs stiff and bruised. "You are trespassers in the realm of Asgard," he said, trying to sound imperious. "I demand to know what you seek!" The man calling himself Doctor laughed, jug-ear again drawing Loki's eyes. They really did seem to defy all laws of logic and physics. "We seek fun, don't we Rose?"

Loki thought a curse that would have made Frigga clip him around the ear. Thor had always been better at trying to sound like father. Maybe the boy with the silver tongue should have tried a subtler approach. Too late now.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, I was seeking Barcelona. But yeah, I guess." She addressed Loki, who was vainly trying to contain his curiosity at her accent. "What's your name, then?"

The boy held his head up a little higher, green eyes cold for one so young. "I am Loki son of Odin, prince and warrior of Asgard. You owe me your respect."  
The Doctor snorted. "I owe you nothing of the sort! I've met plenty of royalty in my time. Never did get the hang of the whole respect thing."

"We don't want no trouble," Rose told Loki, glaring at the Doctor. "Never mind him. How about you show us around the place, give us the guided tour?"

There was something in her smile that drew Loki to her. Maybe it was the distinctly common feel of her presence that intrigued the young prince, something the royal blood in him couldn't help but find curious.

"Rose, when have we ever wanted a guided tour?" The Doctor demanded. "What happened to the secret doors, the running into trouble?"  
"You don't run into trouble, trouble runs into you," she told him. "What do you say, Loki? Surely if the prince gives us permission to be here, we can't get in any trouble?"

Loki paused. "Well...If I get caught, I'll be in trouble," he admitted. "I was supposed to train in the courtyard with Thor this morning. I came out here because I wanted to read."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged looks. "Do your parents make you train to fight?" The Doctor asked. Loki shrugged. "Just Father. Mother teaches me magic."

Rose's eyes lit up. "Magic?" she asked. " Actual magic?" Loki nodded, confused. "Yes," he responded, unsure why she seemed so excited.

"Rose," The Doctor said, "Loki can show us some magic later. How about you take us up to the palace, let us have a look around?"

Loki nodded, turning away and running off through the orchard. "Well, aren't you coming, Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at Rose. "Magic?" Rose asked. " Actual magic?"  
The Doctor nodded. "We should go," he said seriously. "We shouldn't be here."

Rose gave him a friendly shove. "He's just a little boy!" she exclaimed. "What harm could there be?"

She headed after Loki, and after a moment, the Doctor followed.

But he had travelled all of time and space, and there are some names that history just doesn't forget. Loki of Asgard. Loki son of Odin who wasn't Odin's son. Loki the Trickster.

The Doctor knew they should leave, but Rose was right. Despite what he would become, Loki was just a little boy. A clever boy. A lonely boy, who wanted to read, not fight.

Maybe the Doctor could help him. Maybe not.


	3. Chapter 3

It wasn't long before they reached the palace, Loki changing bit by bit from prince back to child. Rose gently asked him questions, and they had barely ascended the steps to the main garden before he was chattering away excitedly. "Father always says a true king is a warrior, not a bookworm, but Mother doesn't agree. She says I should focus on my studies and leave the fighting till I'm older."  
A flicker of something dark passed over Loki's face. "But Father always wins those arguments."

"Listen to your mother," Rose advised. "Don't let your dad push you around!" Loki wasn't entirely sure what a 'dad' was, but he shook his head, brushing away the sadness as swiftly as it had appeared. "I can take you to the library!" he exclaimed, moving on. "Do you like books?"

"Books!" the Doctor all but yelled. "Best weapons in the world, Loki. Take use to the library. I love libraries!" The child nodded, grinning, all but skipping along with his new friends. All thoughts of royalty and trespassers had been banished by the easy forgetfulness of youth, Loki so thrilled by the companionship that he didn't spare a thought to duty or danger. He led them through the palace os Asgard, stopping to peer around a corner. "There's a guard at the library door," he whispered. "Father must have sent him. They know I didn't spar with Thor this morning." His eyes lit up with mischief. "I'll take care of him." Before the Doctor could think of a protest, Loki raised a hand, coiling his fingers with a look of intense concentration. Rose watched in amazement as a full-size guard in Asgardian armour appeared beside them, green light filling in every detail of his being. Loki looked strained as he maintained the projection, walking it forward to face the other guard. "Morning, Brohm," the library guard said cheerfully. Loki had deliberately created an imitation of his friend. "Bit early to be relieving me, isn't it? It's not as if I've got anything else to do, aside from watch for wayward young princes!" "New orders," the false Brohn replied, in a voice that was barley convincing. There was definite note of Loki in his tone. "I'm to take over this shift."

Maybe it was the early hour, but the first guard seemed to fall for it. "Alright. See you at lunch."

As he left, however, the guard clapped Brohm on the shoulder. His hand, however, went straight through the projection, dissolving it into green. He yelped in surprise, but it quickly turned to anger. Every palace guard had fallen victim to the green light of sorcery at some stage, and they all knew for sure that it wasn't Frigga. "Prince Loki!" the guard yelled, sounding angry. " Show yourself!"

Prince or no, it was well within the guard's right to give Loki a good hiding. The boy paled, glancing up at the Doctor and Rose with an expression of fear. "Oh dear..." he muttered, as the guard strode towards the corner behind which they hid. "What will I-"

A spark of mischievous delight came into his eyes as he saw a shield hanging on the wall, some relic of an old battle. It was heavy, the metal too dense for the child to even attempt lifting with his hands.

"Loki, no!" the Doctor warned, but it was too late. Loki swung his arm forward and, with a mere exertion of will, ripped the shield from the wall and sent it flying into the guard's chest. He flew backwards, hit the wall and slumped limply to the ground.

Loki crowed in victory and ran forward. Having checked that he as well and truly unconscious, he turned, beaming, to the Doctor and Rose. "Come on!" he exclaimed excitedly, running towards the doors. It took a great heave for the youngster to push open the great, wooden entrance, but once he had, he vanished into the dark crack of entryway.

Rose glanced at the Doctor. "Well, that was one way in," she said, sounding a little taken aback by the violence of the young boy's solution. The Doctor had that dark, brooding expression that only ever came when he knew something no-one else did, eyebrows furrowed and even the ears seeming to wilt in seriousness.

"Doctor," Rose asked carefully, "Do you know Loki? I mean, have you heard of him before, from history?"

The Doctor nodded slowly. "I have," he told her. "We should go, and soon. Asgard isn't somewhere we should have come. This was a mistake."

Loki popped his head out the door, dark hair mussed from the excitement of the morning. "Are you coming?" he demanded, green eyes glittering with the joy that is only found by a book lover in a library. Rose and the Doctor exchanged looks. They couldn't just run off and leave him now.

"Yup!" the Doctor said, darkness passing as quickly as it had come. The pair entered through the ornate doors, taking in the glories of Asgard's finest collection of books.

"Wow," Rose breathed. "Now that's what I call a library."


	4. Chapter 4

The library of Asgard was the finest in the nine realms, the collection of the Allfather beyond anything Rose could have imagined. The Doctor had seen bigger libraries – but that didn't mean he couldn't appreciate its value.

"Books!" he exclaimed, jogging in. "Would you look at that? Perfect place for a bookworm, eh?"

And indeed it was. Shelves stretched to a vast, vaulted ceiling, row after towering row falling away from the visitors. These books and scrolls weren't present in their hundreds, nor even in thousands. Hundreds of thousands of words in all kinds of languages, stories and legends, histories and sciences, every source of information a bright child, like Loki, could have dreamed of. And it was part of his home.

Suddenly, the nature of Loki made more sense. Forced to train in weapons and warfare when his every instinct pushed him towards learning. If pushed into a more violent way of thinking...well, any child would resort to trickery, even magic, if they had it. And Loki had it, by the bucketful.

It had been a long time since the Doctor had dealt with real, genuine magic. He had almost started believing it had died out at the time of the universe's beginning – at least, all truly powerful magic had. Now, however, he could see how desperately wrong he had been. Loki had power beyond what he had anticipated. The projection of the guard had shown him that.

"Doctor, Rose!" Loki came running out from behind a vast shelf, staggering under the weight of several ancient-looking tomes. "Look, these are some of my favourites!"

The boy tottered over to a great mahogany desk which was nestled between two glass-paned shelves, hefting the books onto the surface. "Look," Loki breathed excitedly. "I finished this yesterday, it's a history book..." Rose stepped back with a smile, knowing what the Doctor was like with history. He could pick up a book, walk into a museum and point out all the mistake and inaccuracies with a smirk and a disparaging remark. This time, however, he surprised her by opening the book and actually reading a few pages. "Asgardian history," he muttered. "You read this, Loki?" The young prince nodded. The Doctor couldn't hold back a grin. "Fantastic!"

Loki beamed right up to those green eyes of his – eyes that reminded the Doctor who he was talking to. Loki of Asgard was known and feared for being clever. Well, not yet.

"You're smart for your age," the Doctor told him. "Very smart..."

Loki didn't say anything, simply urged him on to his next book. "This is my favourite," he told him. "Well, my favourite at the moment... I can never pick just one!"

Now that, the Doctor could sympathise with. All the books in time and space, it would be impossible to choose the best one.

The two travellers and the young prince of Asgard whiled away the hours within the library, perusing ancient volumes and discussing their contents. Loki was curious about where they came from, asking all sorts of questions about their travels and relationship. The Doctor and Rose did their best to explain without actually explaining, but the glint in those green eyes told the Time Lord the child had worked out far more than had been revealed to him. It had been a long time since he had met so precocious a boy, and even longer since a true magician had crossed his path. This wasn't something he had been prepared for, and he wasn't sure he was ready to deal with things spiralling out of control. Magic had never been the Doctor's forte, and he had steered well clear of the world's that contained it until now. They were few and far between, Asgard the one true magical realm left in the universe. Even for an Asgardian magician, Loki was strong. The Doctor would worry about what he might become but, all too unfortunately, he had heard the tales ...darkness stalked Loki through history, a darkness that the Time Lord avoided because he knew it could not be changed. Not all stories were for rewriting.

In the hours they spent in the dark, musty library, Loki did something he hadn't done in a very long time.

He made some friends.

True, he trailed along after Thor, Sif and their three cohorts, but Loki had never really had anyone to call a comrade. There was something about this darkly charismatic Doctor that appealed to him, the age of his eyes hinting at a wisdom Loki would have killed to tap into. Little did the boy know, the Doctor could see this, and much more, in his face. Lack of friends bred loneliness, and loneliness would turn bitter. Loki may only have been eleven years old, but already he was starting to twist into the dark thing he would become.

The three of them read and talked in the library for more hours than Loki could count, until the sun was moving across the sky and evening threatened with darkening fingers. The Doctor told him stories, fantastical tales of travels and places that couldn't be true, adventures that captured the prince's imagination and made him want to roam in space and time. It was only when he asked, "How old are you, Doctor?" that his new friend's face darkened and an answer was not received.

"Not old compared to the Allfather!" he joked, knowing to poke fun at Loki's parent would amuse the boy. "I'm not exactly-"

He stopped as a sound echoed through the library, the unmistakeable sound of the doors being flung open. A furious voice, without doubt the Asgardian king they had just been slandering, echoed through the muffled blanket that covered the great chamber. "Loki! Loki! Damn it boy, show yourself!"

Loki had pulled Rose and the Doctor behind the bookcase, a fear in his eyes that should possess no child at the sight of his father.

"We can't let him find us!" the Doctor hissed. Rose glanced at him, the rare seriousness in his gaze unnerving her. Loki nodded, unaware of the gravity of a Time Lord found in Asgard.

"What do we do?" he asked, as Odin strode into the library with a guard at either side and a child a little older than Loki bouncing after him. Thor radiated energy in his every word to the Allfather, jumping up and down as he said, "Leave him alone, Father! He didn't want to fight, that's all!"

"He knocked out a palace guard and neglected his duties, and will be punished with equal severity!" Odin snapped, eyes scanning the shelves.

The Doctor heard Loki's sharp intake of breath.

_I can't change history. Not this part. _

The Time Lord dithered momentarily, his conscience telling him one thing and his head telling him another. Making a snap decision, he bent down and took Loki's hand.

"Loki of Asgard," he whispered. "Run."


End file.
